It’s a homecoming beleaguered Southwestern Ontario would roll out the red carpet for.

After years of transferring jobs offshore to cheaper labour markets and buying lower-cost products elsewhere, North American manufacturers are bringing their operations back, a report released Monday by KPMG says.

“There is a trend back to onshoring with more work being done here because you’ve got better consistency of quality,” said Don Matthews, KPMG’s diversified industrials national-sector leader.

Higher transportation costs have also prompted companies to move their sourcing back to North America.

Southwestern Ontario, with its proximity to the U.S., is in a good position to take advantage of the trend, Matthews said.

“We have come through a period of tough times, but the manufacturers participating in this survey see there are some bright things on the horizon and they see things getting better. It might not be dramatic, it might not be overnight, but things are turning around and there are positive things happening out there.”

The study confirms what the latest job numbers showed about the London economy: it’s rebounding after a slow recovery from the recession six years ago marked by the closing of several big plants.

The London-area jobless rate fell in June to a post-recession low of 7.4%, the first time in four years the local rate has fallen below Ontario’s. The region added 1,100 manufacturing jobs over the last year, Statistics Canada said.

Solid growth in the value of what the city produces, brisk home sales and the number of construction permits also point to a comeback in London.

The KPMG survey of Canadian manufacturers found only 14% planned to source from China in 2014, down from 31% in 2013. Similarly, only 3% planned to source from India in 2014, down from 12% in 2013.

“There’s only so much you can do by phone, online or via a once- or twice-annual site visit overseas,” London tech analyst Carmi Levy — who has worked with tech companies, helping them to onshore — said of the challenges of firms who base their production in foreign lands.

“There’s a reason Apple, long a champion of offshored manufacturing, is pulling some of its higher-end fabrication back to the U.S. — it simply makes more sense to do some of these more complex manufacturing runs at home.”

China and India are noted in the report as two jurisdictions that companies are drawing away from to find products manufactured with greater quality and consistency.

They are two characteristics Canadian manufacturing have a strong reputation for, the report said.

Serge Lavoie, president of the Southwest Economic Alliance, said issues of cost and safety also are bringing work back home. “Which is especially true around food,” he said. “We’ve all heard the horror stories (about foreign-made food products).”

In an industry based on perishable goods, keeping shipping costs low and shipping delays rare is crucial.

“The Dr. Oetker plant is a good example of that,” Lavoie said, adding onshoring is a double-edged sword because it also means U.S. manufacturers are leaving Canada for the States.

Global companies also are facing a shortage of skilled workers. Canada has the people, colleges, universities and trade institutions to train the right individuals for the right jobs, KPMG said.

“We’ve got lots of workers available. We may not have the right match between the workers and the skills, but we can overcome that,” Matthews said.